


the freedom and the guile

by killunya



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Bliss, Hannibal Lecter Loves Will Graham, Introspection, M/M, Murder Husbands, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, Post-Fall (Hannibal), Will Graham Loves Hannibal Lecter, except with more cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 21:05:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19776400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killunya/pseuds/killunya
Summary: Will and Hannibal are left alive after the fall with nothing but each other, passions unbridled.Life carries on as such.





	the freedom and the guile

Will Graham knows. He’s always known– seen– things others haven’t been able to, and surviving the fall left him to contemplate the actions that led up to it. Where to go from lying near-dead with Hannibal in his arms.

Will Graham has always known certain truths but very recently accepted them. He has urges to kill. Undeniable, gripping, soul crushing urges all of his own machinations, not Hannibal’s or Garret Jacob Hobbs’ or anybody else he’s stepped inside of. He knows this. He knows that when he dies it will be at Hannibal’s hand, and his grave will be Hannibal’s small intestine. He has known that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper since their first meeting- had he not been in an Encephalitis-induced haze, this realization would have come easier to him. The stench of death surrounds Hannibal like a cloud, and they both can smell it. He knew that Hannibal was in love with him shortly after. He knew he reciprocated long before.

He knows that Hannibal needs him just as he needs Hannibal. They are two halves of one whole, identities mashed together into one composite being that is HannibalandWill.

Fine, he shakes his fist at fate. If we can’t die together, then we’ll exist together. And so he accedes and they carry on, united as one.

—

In the beginning, Will’s sense of righteousness remains, another old habit that clings to him like a leech. When they hunt– after Bedelia, that is– they only go after those Will deems deserving: rapists and abusers are their most common victims. If Hannibal can see right through Will (which he can) and knows that it’s not mere vigilante work and his hatred for child abusers runs back to his own muddy memories of youth, he’s kind enough not to mention it. Hannibal doesn’t mind eating people of such nature, anyway. No honor in tormenting a creature that isn’t capable of holding its own.

And so they hunt. Hannibal can smell pain as Will can sense bloodlust; it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s a good system. Will gets the illusion of upholding justice that he felt at the FBI, protecting innocents, while also satisfying his urge to kill. Hannibal gets a hunting partner and he doesn’t have to eat alone afterwards.

They fit into each other perfectly. HannibalandWill.

—

Their routine for special nights goes like this: hunt, fuck, clean, cook, eat.

Tonight will be their first hunt in Barcelona. Since Italy, they’ve gone gallivanting around Europe together, never lingering in one area for more than a few months. This is their third place of residence since Florence; first it was Monte Carlo, then it was Marseille. Both were partial to warmer climates after so much time in Baltimore. Hannibal took great pleasure in experiencing different cultures (and food, and people), and Will was more than happy to indulge him.

So– Spain. They’re sitting side by side in the Gothic Quarter, Will watching people pass by and Hannibal sketching a medieval synagogue. The two appear inconspicuous, honeymooning tourists taking in the scenery, but their senses are honed by now. The bait has been cast, and they’re simply waiting for a fish to bite.

They work in tandem, and Hannibal can smell the moment Will’s pulse picks up as he spots their next meal. He sees things so revolting through that man’s eyes that his mind is instantly made up, and the flash of fury in his expression is enough to get Hannibal going right then and there. It’s thrilling, the thought of what’s to come.

Finding the man that night is easy. Will allows himself to delight in the violence, using brute force to apprehend and tear into him. Tonight’s hunt is reminiscent of their first kill together: Will delivers a blow and passes the man to Hannibal, who does the same in a back and forth of ecstasy. He’s not afraid to look, not anymore.

Will feels pressure building in his chest, his gut, his head as death draws nearer, and by the glint in Hannibal’s eyes he knows the feeling is mutual. They’re unable to rip their gazes from  
the other. Hannibal is bloody and panting and looks absolutely radiant, the moonlight glinting off of him and making him appear almost inhuman. Will wants to swallow him whole. 

His face cracks into a lascivious smile as their prey’s gasps fade into silence. Hannibal’s mouth crashes against his. Insatiable.

—

Will still dreams. Old habits die hard, especially those rooted in trauma. His old dreams of Abigail and Garret Jacob Hobbs and the wendigo sometimes find him, leaving him writhing in sweat soaked sheets at ungodly hours of the night- but typically not. He sometimes dreams of idyllic versions of his life: one where he never worked for Jack, where he never met Hannibal, where he remained in comfortable isolation until he died of old age in his secluded home and his dogs ate his flesh in starvation-induced mania. Maybe he would have settled down with Alana, resided with her but kept the standard amount of distance, pumped out a few children so he had a legacy that wasn’t stained with blood. Will doesn’t particularly like those dreams.

More often than not, now, his dreams are pleasurable by his standards. Dreams that he’s had many times before– choking Hannibal with his bare hands as they stare into each others’ eyes, biting down on Hannibal’s neck and tearing his throat out like an animal, prying open Hannibal’s sternum and stepping inside of his skin, beating Hannibal to a bloody pulp until he’s gasping and moaning a mantra of Will Will Will– but are nonetheless a comfort. Hannibal can tell when he’s had a dream of this nature, and Will describes them to him over breakfast. Hannibal reveres his imagination.

—

Hannibal teaches Will to cook. It’s not that Will had no knowledge of culinary arts, no, but he is long accustomed to his diet of whiskey and air. Hannibal says his tastes simply haven't been refined yet. All in due time.

It’s quite saccharine, really. Hannibal coming up and embracing Will from behind, guiding his inexperienced hands as he strips a tender heart of any fat on its outside layers, fingers entwined around a sharp knife. A mentor guiding his student. Will imagines it’s his heart, and in a sense, it is.

They’re making beef heart (minus the offal, plus some human) with watermelon salad, a concoction of Hannibal’s design. His large palms engulf Will’s as he slices the heart evenly in its center, leaving its insides bare and open. Exposed. Hannibal carefully directs Will’s swift motions as he releases the heart of any internal structures keeping it together. He isn’t constricting his movement, no, merely overseeing it and keeping Will steady. They slice it into three even steaks.

Will thinks they fit together perfectly.

—

It’s a quiet day, this one. Last night’s hunt had carried on longer than anticipated– the boy had refused to die– and Will was tired. He sees acidic meat in his future.

He and Hannibal sit side by side on their patio overlooking the seaside as it wakes for the day. Their silence is comfortable as, per usual, Will people watches and Hannibal sketches the crashing waves. For once, things are simple.

Will smiles to himself, and Hannibal, ever-vigilant, smiles up at him in response. Their movements, reactions, thoughts are all synchronized, and it’s nice. It’s nice, together.

**Author's Note:**

> title from “I Won’t Share You” by The Smiths
> 
> yes, beef/human heart and watermelon salad is a real thing! thanks to this article for all the preparation info https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/10/25/163618582/beef-heart-an-unexpected-meal-that-spans-generations


End file.
